Posts Tagged ‘Security Cabinet’

A proposal by the Civil Administration has been approved by the security cabinet for construction of housing for PA Arabs in Area C, near the Jewish community of Susiya.

In a statement on Thursday, (Oct. 27), Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel of the Bayit Yehudi party slammed the approval of the plan, which came in a secret vote in mid-September, according to a report by Ha’aretz.

The proposal, initiated by Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, comes as part of a plan to strengthen the presence of the moderate Arab population.

“The program’s goal is to do good by those prepared to live in co-existence with us, and on the other hand make things harder for those planning terror attacks,” Liberman said, according to Ha’aretz.

Ariel demanded a review of the plans by the full government at its weekly cabinet meeting this coming Sunday.

“I demand this be debated by the cabinet. Such a decision should be taken by the entire cabinet, not a secret cabinet that tries to hide it from other cabinet members,” he added.

“I hope it will be raised at the next meeting this Sunday and of course we will seek to thwart the idea raised by the security cabinet.”

In particular, objections to Arab construction in Area C are rising in light of the insistence by the High Court of Justice that the Jewish community of Amona must be demolished by the end of this year, despite the fact that the “private land” on which the community was built seems to be abandoned.

To this day, not one resident of the Palestinian Authority has come forward to claim ownership of the land on which the community is built.

Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, chairman of the Kulanu party, says he will not be the one to bring down the government of Likud Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Kahlon told Israel Radio in an interview on Sunday, “The government will last. We have large, important challenges, and you can’t bring down a government every month, you can’t go to elections every year. The government needs to function,” he said.

The finance minister’s party holds the lion’s share in the coalition next to the Likud.

The reassurance followed a threat Saturday night by Bayit Yehudi chairman Naftali Bennett who told members of his Knesset faction that he is ready to vote against the appointment of new Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman.

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, also a member of Bayit Yehudi, stands to lose her job if the party leaves the coalition, as does Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel.

New elections might still be an option, Shaked told Galei Tzahal Army Radio on Sunday.

In a Facebook post late Saturday night, Bennet said the security cabinet “commands the [IDF] chief of staff and the IDF, which makes fateful life-and-death decisions, must stop being blind. Today it is blind.” The cabinet ministers, he contended, “consistently have critical information withheld from them.”

Bennett contends “Saving lives I s more important than cabinet portfolios.” He has demanded real-time security updates, fact-finding visits to IDF bases and military zones, and easier access to classified information.

The 61-seat coalition is to be expanded by five more mandates when Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu party’s membership is completed with his appointment as defense minister. But it may not survive the loss of Bayit Yehudi.

If true, it would signify that Jordan and Egypt are taking steps to end the calculated chaos in the Palestinian Authority since Abbas lit the fuse from the podium of the United Nations General Assembly.

“The security cabinet has decided to authorize police to use live ammunition against people throwing stones and Molotov cocktails when the life of a third person is threatened and no longer only when a police officer is threatened,” a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said.

The cabinet approved the use of .22 Ruger sniper rifles against rioters hurling stones, who endanger others, and live fire in any case in which lives are endangered.

Stiffened penalties include a mandatory minimum four-year prison sentence and a fine for convicted stone-throwers ages 14-18. Also approved was an evaluation of possibly fining the parents of convicted children ages 12 to 14.

However, children under age 12 cannot be held accountable for crimes under current Israeli law. With the rise in terror attacks, there has also been a corresponding escalation in the number of Arab 10 year olds who are being caught throwing stones at Israeli soldiers and police officers as well.

Suspected Arab rock throwers have murdered a Jewish Israeli motorist as he was driving late Sunday night in the southern Jerusalem neighborhood of Armon Hanatziv.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has called an “emergency meeting” of the Security Cabinet to discuss the upswing in Arab rock-throwing and firebombing attacks.

“The prime minister views with great severity the phenomenon of rock-throwers and throwers of firebombs at Israeli civilians and intends on combating this using all measures, including the stepping up of punishments and enforcement,” said a government official.

Alexander Leiblovitch, 64, was driving the vehicle when it was hit by a barrage of rocks and careened out of control, striking an electricity pole at around midnight.